Brazilian documentary photographer Sebastião Salgado (born 1944) originally trained as an economist. He began his photographic career in 1973, working initially as a photojournalist before turning toward the long-term, socially oriented documentary projects for which he is well known, such as Workers, Migrations and, most recently, Genesis. A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2001, Salgado has also been involved in rainforest conservation and restoration through his organization Insituto Terra.

The first edition of Sebastião Salgado: Other Americas was published in 1985 by the French publisher Contrejour, and included photographs from Salgado's numerous trips through Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico. The Brazil-born, Paris-based photographer traveled extensively in Latin America between 1977 and 1984 to document the shifting religious and political climate in the region, especially as reflected in Latin America's rural cultures and traditional lifestyles. Other Americas, Salgado's first photobook, included portraits of farmers and indigenous people, landscapes and pictures of the region's spiritual traditions.

An instant classic, the book received countless awards and prizes and has been called "the visual equivalent to the magic of a Gabriel García Márquez tale." This new edition of Other Americas, an English-language reissue of the 1985 Contrejour edition, brings back into print one of the most powerful visions of life in Central and South America ever recorded.